One of the things about the pesky Constitution is that, no matter how much one warps one part of it, some other part seems to get in the way of those who seek to pervert it. Case in point: The religious groups that wanted to use public fora to display their creches had to accept menorahs. That was bad enough, but they also have to accept displays from those who don’t believe in any God at all, which is exactly what happened in Vernon, where the Connecticut Valley Atheists beat the Christians and the Jews to the punch and got prime space on the Town Green for this display:
As Newton said, for every action there’s a reaction. Agnostics and atheists, in the past were content to let the religious alone, until the right wing started trying to push their particular brand of totalitarian balderdash down our collective throats, including the throats of plenty of believers. Now the secularists are beginning to push back, and it’s nice to see Connecticut, once the most hidebound Puritanical state in the country, leading the way. Some in Vernon are claiming the sign is inappropriate because its content is not only “religious”, but political. Putting aside the fact that political speech is exactly the type we should encourage in the public square, the dodge won’t fly for other reasons, as Dennis Himes, co-ordinator of the group, pointed out:
Himes said he would have preferred no displays relating to religion on town property, but decided to apply to place one in the park because he expected Christian and Jewish displays.
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Himes said the whole issue became political when the town decided to allow religious displays on town property.
“The original question was whether Vernon would have a nativity scene on church property or town property,” Himes said. “The difference between those two is a political difference.”
Expect this sort of thing to pop up more and more, to the consternation of the religious right. The same thing happened when they got Congress to pass a law allowing them to have religious meetings in public schools after school. The constitution required that the privilege be extended to every group, not just the religious. Here’s what happened in Utah, home of the Mormons:
During the 1995-96 school year, a group of students wanted to form a club that would discuss and deal with sexual orientation issues. The district clamped down on the group and tried to stop it from meeting. The students fought back, staged a school walk-out and lobbied for their cause.
Finally, when the district realized it would be impossible to single out this one group; as a result they decided to ban all non-curricular school clubs. Along with the Gay-Straight Alliance, the Young Republicans and Democrats, Students Against Drunk Driving, the Polynesian Club and countless other clubs were prohibited from meeting. According to the ACLU, this is the only district in the nation that has gone to such extreme measures.
But even with the ban, the GSA figured out a way to continue meeting. Under the state’s Civic Center Act, any group can rent space from a public school after hours. So, the group found a sponsor, paid the rent and continued to meet. They are now one of the few non-curricular groups that still gather in the district and more such groups are popping up at other schools in the Salt Lake valley.
Imagine if you will, that the Supreme Court had never banned prayer in schools. Our much more diverse nation would have spent a lot of the last 50 years arguing about which prayers we should be saying, and to which god we should be praying. If the troglodytes on the present court bring them back, wait for the firestorm when the non-Christian majority school districts start praying to Allah, or, if equal time is required, the atheists demand hymns of praise to the beneficent laws of chance.
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